Flagstones
by klemonademouth
Summary: ...The odder thing was the fact that I was lying on my back on the floor of my Transfiguration classroom. I wasn't even going to ask myself why I was there, because that would include an explanation I really didn't care about... oneshot, JPLE, slight RLSB


**I don't own Harry Potter.**

Flagstones.

I lay on my back, one foot touching a desk.

What an odd thing to be reminiscent of.

Flagstones.

The odder thing was the fact that I was lying on my back on the floor of my Transfiguration classroom. I wasn't even going to ask myself why I was there, because that would include an explanation I really didn't care about. So I laid there, and stared.

The desks were cleared away to the back of the room, near where I was, ready for the summer holiday. The one I wouldn't come back from, because it was my final year here.

Flagstones.

I could almost hear the clattering footsteps of McGonagall over the stones, and Sirius Black's pealing laugh. I could almost see James Potter ruffling his hair and smiling that smile. These old flagstones had seeped up so many memories-

and someday, it suddenly struck me, my grandchildren would walk on these very flagstones.

And I realized there was a good chance I would never again see James Potter.

I got up, my head spinning, and for a second I could actually _see_ him. There he was, leaning over an imaginary desk, his imaginary fingers secretly crossed, talking to an imaginary red-headed me...

I blinked twice, hard. The illusion faded. Exams were over. All the students were clamboring for carriages together with their friends to Hogsmeade Station.

I continued to walk until I was at the carriages. It was my job as Head Girl to conduct others on, and take the last carriage with the Head Boy.

James was already there, conducting the last over-eager students into the carriages. Sirius and Remus climbed on the second-last one, holding hands, with Alice and Frank. Sirius waved maniacally at us as the carriage pulled away, until we couldn't see them anymore.

The last carriage pulled up, and James held out a hand to help me on before him. A year ago I would have found that insulting, suggesting that I couldn't get on myself. Now, I just found it unbearably chivalrous and sweet. I couldn't help but smile. What a gentleman.

"You'll write me over the summer, Lily?" he asked, apprehension clouding his hazel eyes.

"Of course." I smiled warmly. Against all odds, James Potter and I had become friends this year. And I definitely wanted to stay in touch with him. "You'll write to me, I hope?" I asked, as the carriage gave a lurch forward.

James's eyes widened. "Every day!"

"Except, unlike last summer, you'll be getting letters back," I pointed out.

He smiled, a little bashfully. "I hope so."

We were quiet on the ride back, until we arrived at the train station. Sirius alone was standing on the bare platform, waving just as enthusiastically as he had been the last time we'd seen him.

"C'mon!" he said, "Peter and Remus've got a compartment for us to share!"

I followed Sirius into their compartment, surprising myself, James, and Sirius when I took James's hand to tug him onwards. I took a seat next to James. Sirius opted for Remus' lap.

"Public display of affection," James complained.

"Hark who's talking," Remus said, nodding towards James' and my entwined hands. I blushed and withdrew mine. I saw James glare at Remus.

Peter was already asleep against the window when the kind old cart witch came around.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she asked, smiling at Sirius, who had his head in Remus' lap. He and I ventured to the front of the compartment to search through her sweets. James gave me a couple galleons, then leaned forward to talk with Remus.

As we picked over the various assortment of chocolate frogs and licorice wands and droobles best blowing gum and pumpkin pasties and hundreds of other things, a very pretty sixth-year Ravenclaw came up for some cauldron cakes. She was quite obviously making eyes at Sirius- fluttering her eyelashes, shifting so her cleavage was more visible in her Hogwarts sweater- and Sirius didn't even seem to see her. He didn't give her a second glance.

I was grinning when we came back in with armloads of candies.

"Why are you smiling like that?" James murmured as I sat next to him and deposited his change on his lap. Then his eyes narrowed. "You didn't snog Sirius in the hallway, did you?"

I wrinkled my nose, then laughed. "Nah. There was this pretty 6th-year Ravenclaw who was making eyes at him, and-"

"He snogged her, didn't he?" James groaned. "Remus will be-"

"You didn't let me finish," I said, enjoying myself. "He didn't even look at her."

"What?" James gasped.

"It was like she wasn't even there," I said smugly.

We both turned to look at Sirius. He was feeding Remus a chocolate frog, and both of them were laughing.

"Moony may be a miracle worker yet," James said, softly, putting his hand back through mine. My heart thudded.

And then, after only a few hours of blissful happiness, of exploding snap and Sirius losing both his eyebrows (Remus, howling with laughter, magicked them back on), the train ride was over.

James and I waited together at the station, making sure all the children were off the bus. Sirius ran forward and embraced Mr. and Mrs. Potter before James did, calling them "Mum" and "Dad". I wasn't really surprised to discover that Sirius was living with the Potters. His family had begun their drawn-out disown at the beginning of Sirius' first year, when he'd been sorted into Gryffindor.

My mum and dad weren't there yet, so James offered to stay with me while Mr. and Mrs. Potter and Sirius went to go get James and Sirius' luggage.

"Such a lovely girl," I heard Mrs. Potter say as they walked away, and I turned what I'm sure was a beautiful shade of red.

Finally, I saw my parents.

"Bye, James," I muttered, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He froze, then put his arms around my waist.

"Don't slap me, okay?" he said as I slid my hands down to his chest. "I've waited a long time for this."

I nodded, my heart going double-speed. Did he mean what I thought he meant?

Then he put his hand under my chin, bent his head, and kissed me.

It was as if my body had gone on shut-down mode. I couldn't think. Was this really happening? I didn't know. Then, as if a back-up generator had gone on, my arms twisted around his neck, I tilted my head upwards, and really kissed him back.

The train station seemed to have gone silent to my ears, cheesily enough. I finally pulled away and saw him gazing at me, looking ecstatic and slightly frightened.

Hm. The train really had gone silent. Fancy that.

I touched James's cheek, and he flinched, as though expecting me to slap him. I brushed his impossibly soft hair out of his eyes.

"I'll have to come to visit you at your house this summer," I said, "you _really_ don't want to meet Petunia."

James let out a woop and picked me up, twirling me around. "Merlin, woman, I'll meet your family any time!" he laughed, putting me down. "After what I've been through with you, your sister should be no problem!"

I nearly cried out with joy. A boy who would meet my sister after all the stories everyone had heard about her? I'd found the perfect man. It'd just taken me six years to finally realize it. I wished I could go back and knock some sense into my fifteen-year-old self.

James picked up my trunk for me, which someone- Alice?- had deposited at my feet. He rolled the trolley over to my parents and Petunia, whose scowl grew deeper as she saw that even "freaks" could be incredibly good-looking.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans," James bowed gallantly. I caught his hand and squeezed it, as if to say, "stop teasing".

"Lily?" my mom asked, only sounding a trifle shocked.

"Mum, Dad, this is James Potter, my-" I looked at James to find him looking at me, then tried out the word. "-Boyfriend," I finished. A broad grin broke across James's face.

"Pleased to meet you, James," Dad said.

"Pleased to meet _you_," James said, sincerely. He took my hand. "I'd like to stay and talk to you folks, but my parents and Sirius are leaving, so..."

My mother waved him off. "No problem, James," she said.

James pressed my hand to his lips, drinking in my face one more time, then, sneaking a quick glance at my parents, ducked to press his lips quickly to mine.

"I'll owl you as soon as I can." he said, quietly, then darted into the crowd. I looked behind me and saw the twinkle in his eye.

"What a perfect gentleman," Mum noted.

I watched with satisfaction as his school shoes trumped away over the flagstones. At the last second, he turned an winked at me. Then he was gone.

"Yes, he is," I agreed.


End file.
